Marie mentions riding the square instead of the hypotenuse. Both old and new 30 here go diagonally WNW heading to Chicago. If there is traffic, we just go 1 mile north, then west for 3 or 4 miles on the back roads. New 30 has a wide smooth clean shoulder but still, those trucks are roaring by, so it's just not pleasant cycling. I'd rather go a little farther in the peace and quiet of the countryside.
I didn't take pictures of it but there are ponds from the rain everywhere. In fields, in front yards, sometimes in the road. The ground must be completely waterlogged. Here's the view from our hotel room:
You can see a puddle in the street as well as in the grass. We saw veritable lakes in front yards.
Tomorrow our ride through Chicago will mostly be in bike paths. That should be fun. We haven't seen many bicyclists and outside of the path to Pittsburgh, we haven't seen any long-distance tourists. We figure they all started on the west coast on June 1, so maybe we'll all cross paths in the middle of the country in mid-July.